1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a method for determining a graphic presentation, the graphic presentation being of the type employed for visualizing the progress of a project.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Unexpected postponements that can jeopardize the on-time end of a project can occur in the implementation of projects. As used herein “project”, for example, is a redevelopment or improvement of an apparatus, or of a work process or of a computer program. The end of the project is, for example, the delivery date of the device or computer program to be developed. The course or progress of the project can be monitored with, for example, a milestone trend analysis of a first-pass-yield measurement.
The milestone trend analysis monitors whether the project has reached a predefined progress at prescribed points in time.
In the first-pass-yield measurement, workers on the project define work packets they are to implement and those points in time at which the corresponding work packets should be finished. The work packets, however, are not standardized. The workers also have the possibility of reporting a work packet that was not finished on time as having been ended and of defining the remaining jobs as a new work packet.
An estimate of the future course of the progress of the project is not possible with the milestone trend analysis or the first-pass-yield measurement.
German OS 196 45 654 discloses an arrangement and a method for self-governing business monitoring of decentrally organized economic units. A central unit of the arrangement includes an updating module that independently and discontinuously requests relevant data via a network of sub-units by means of a specific information acquisition software. The sub-units are composed of a sub-communication interface with a sub-output unit, a sub-input unit, an embedded computer and a specific sub-unit software. The sub-output unit communicates unambiguous questions to a third party and accepts every input. The central unit can be integrated in a higher-ranking EDP system, a data exchange being possible as a result.
German OS 199 11 699 discloses a method for monitoring, controlling and/or optimizing process and/or work project plans. In the context of this method, an actual status is determined on the basis or process and/or work project plans of work units that have already been acquired, and at least one reference process and/or reference work project plan of a work unit is acquired by indicating performance features. Modified process and/or work execution plan for the work unit are produced based on the actual status and/or the reference status and the acquired time and/or performance features.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,907,490 discloses an apparatus for evaluating the progress of a project. The apparatus has a computer and a computer program running on the computer. The computer receives data about project objectives from a datafile provided therefor, determines the current progress and graphically presents a representation of the progress.